Book Review: More Than Music

Katie August 8, 2014 0 Comments

When they go to audition they realize that whoever is in the band for the audition is in it for the duration – there is no replacing members part of the way through so Maddie is either in – or the band is out.  Maddie agrees to be in the band and they make it through the audition process.  They are told that the previous band who won broke up after a divorce between band members so they didn’t want any band with a relationship within it – and Maddie and Jared claim that they are just friends.  They also are told it will look good if Jared is a playboy – which he already has a reputation for – so they decide to go with that.

Except that Jared and Maddie are falling for each other and end up secretly dating.  Of course, that is until Maddie slips up and kisses him on live TV and Jared acts like he wants nothing to do with her.  Now what?  Well, you’ll just have to read the book to find out! You think I’d just give it all away?

I really liked this band and the characters.  They weren’t your typical egotistical band guys that you’d hate.  You can’t help but root for them and want them to advance on the show. It was almost as if I had watched the whole season of the show – expect I only read about it.   I was excited for them to advance each week and to see if Maddie and Jared’s  secret romance would be outed.  I was also hoping for the two of them to have a happy ending when there was the live TV kiss, but like Maddie, I wasn’t sure if the band meant more to him than she did. (And you think I’m going to tell you what happened now, right? Wrong!)

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Music major Maddie Taylor just finished her junior year of college and has a summer internship lined up with the LA Philharmonic, yet every night she practices guitar and secretly dreams of a louder life. But geeky girls like her don’t get to be rock stars. That is, until tattooed singer Jared Cross catches her playing guitar and invites her to join his band on The Sound, a reality TV show competition.

Once on the show, Maddie discovers there’s more to Jared than his flirty smile and bad boy reputation – and that he’s just as big a geek as she is. With each performance their attraction becomes impossible to ignore, but when the show pressures them to stay single they’re forced to keep their relationship secret.

As the competition heats up, Jared will do whatever it takes for his band to win, and Maddie must decide if following her dream is worth losing her heart.

*** New Adult romance suitable for 17+ due to mature content. ***

Book Review: The Hot Streak

Katie August 8, 2014 0 Comments

The Hot Streak is probably one of the best baseball romance books I’ve read lately. It was relatively short, but like the main character Casey – I quickly fell in love with the leading man, Tyler. (Although Casey was afraid to admit it. I openly admitted it on my twitter.) I was a bit miffed with the ending – but I’ll get to that in a bit.

The book is about Casey, who works for a magazine and knows nothing about baseball. She meets Tyler who is the pitcher for the Boston Robins, a new MLB team in the National League. (This was a bit weird, considering all the other teams were “real” teams, but I let it go. Turns out it is a dream of the author and that’s why she wrote it that way.) He invites her to the game to watch him pitch. He leaves the game early after being ejected to take her on a date and the relationship seems to move pretty quickly.

Casey ends up going to all the games where Tyler pitches and they almost always seem to have a date the night before. Casey, not knowing much about baseball doesn’t realize how superstitious players can be and when Tyler begins winning every game he pitches, he doesn’t want to disrupt anything so he begs Casey to go see him pitch in Atlanta.

Casey’s job is basically forcing her to take her vacation days or she will lose it, so she agrees.

Everything seems to be going well until one of the reporters drops a bombshell on Casey just after Tyler declares his love for her on ESPN.

This is when I, and maybe Casey, fell out of love with Tyler a little bit. Some other stuff happens and I don’t want to give it away… and it seems to be a nice happy ending except that I wanted like 18 more chapters. I loved these characters and this story and I wanted to know what happened with them! And then… THE END. Nooooo!

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

“The Hot Streak is an interesting take on loving someone who is in the limelight. I enjoyed the book and found it to be an entertaining read.”—Coffee Time Romance

Casey hits it big when she meets major league baseball player Tyler Hammond at a photo shoot and they start up a steamy romance. Traveling with Tyler, she’s living it up and enjoying all the hot sex she can get between games. Now Tyler’s on a winning streak, and he thinks it’s thanks to Casey—but she has to decide for herself: is this the real deal, or just a summer fling?

Book Review: Nine Bucks a Pound

Katie August 8, 2014 0 Comments

Nine Bucks a Pound is a fictional story, but is based upon the not so fictional story that has been plaguing the major leagues – steroid use.  The book is about Del Tanner – he is told that he needs to bulk up which might help him have more power at the plate.  If he doesn’t get his act together, he fears he will be cut.  His agent suggests he tries steroids and him and a fellow teammate head to meet a guy named Jesus to try and see what he has to offer.  By guessing when a drug test might be, he decides when to start and stop using as after 3-4 weeks it can’t be traced in your system anymore.

As like in real life – a list gets passed around that supposedly lists who in baseball was using. Del is said to have failed 3 drug tests.  He denies, denies, denies, but later has a change of hear and comes clean about his using.  Is this enough to save his career?

This book was a nice change of pace from the baseball romances that I have been reading and is more of a book that a male or female would enjoy.  It is very well written and once I got into it I couldn’t put it down.  I had to see what consequences (if any!) Del would end up facing.  This was a great book.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

For every A-Rod or Manny Ramirez seeking to boost his game to elite levels via illegal means, there have been scores of unheralded players toiling in the minor leagues, desperate to impress the brass enough to simply survive and advance. Young men who have dreamed of playing in the big leagues since they were old enough to swing a bat. When their natural ability alone isn’t enough, the black and white blurs to gray, their fear of getting caught using banned substances outweighed by a more consuming fear of failure.

Three seasons into his professional career, Del Tanner can read the writing on the wall. A contact hitter at a power position, he recognizes his days in the Twins organization are numbered if he can’t match the production of the other first basemen in the system. When his aspiring agent suggests he try steroids, Del makes a choice that will shadow him for the rest of his career.

In his second novel, James Bailey (The Greatest Show on Dirt, 2012) humanizes the players fans are so often quick to demonize. Nine Bucks a Pound ponders life on baseball’s fringe and the dreams that tempt a young man to heed the devil on his shoulder. ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark says, “Bailey hasn’t just given us a great read. He’s given us an important window into a topic we can’t seem to stop talking about.” Adds Russell Rowland, author of High and Inside, “Bailey expertly explores how the desire to succeed at any price can lead to unexpected consequences, mostly involving a man’s relationships with others, not to mention with his own conscience. This is a powerful story about the perils of success at any price.”